Asia was mixed, with Hang Seng being the notable index down about 0.9%. Europe is seeing losses of more than 1%.

The market yesterday was putting together a nice bounce, that was until Bernanke decided to speak 15 minutes before the close, and litterally tank the markets into the red.

Though volume has been strong throughout the duration of the market sell-off, we are, however, seeing the volume level wane from day-to-day.

We attempted to close back above the 1294 level, but was met with strong resistance.

Market is still due for a bounce, we are looking at an open today, that is almost 75 points off of where we were at just a week ago. At which point, the bounce will be an extreme one, due to the short exposure that is increasing each day.

1250 is definitely in the sights of bears, but I don't think it happens until this market bounces. Markets don't move straight down with no reprieve.

We are officially in a downward trend. The rally we saw off of the September lows, and onward, is dead.

We are only 27 points away from trading in the negative on the year.

We have declined five straight weeks - the first time that this has happened since the March '09 recovery lows. We are definitely overdue for a bounce, and the possibility of seeing a sixth straight week of declines becomes less likely (which we haven't seen since July '08).

My conclusion: Near-term bounce in the markets is imminent, bears are too hot and heavy and will likely see a massive squeeze to flush them out before resuming the downward trend.